By Maroua Sahli and Ahmed Asmar
TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - A Tunisian court on Tuesday sentenced eight defendants to death over the accusation of murdering Mohamed Brahmi, a leftist opposition figure in 2013.
The Tunisian state news agency quoted a statement by a court spokesman as saying that three defendants also received additional death sentences for what he said was "deliberate participation in premeditated murder."
Charges against them also included "attempting to change the state's nature" and "inciting for killing and armed conflict."
A ninth convict, who is on the run, was sentenced to five years in prison, "for failing to report to the authorities what he had of information about terrorist crimes," the Tunisian broadcaster added.
On July 25, 2013, politician Mohamed Brahmi, the leader of the Movement of the People Party, was shot dead outside his house.
His assassination at that time triggered a political crisis in the country.
Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that has aggravated the country's economic conditions since 2021 when Tunisian President Kais Saied ousted the government and dissolved parliament.
While Saied accuses his opponents -- mainly the Ennahda Movement -- of conspiring against the state and being behind the country's crises, the opposition accuses him of persecuting opposition figures, especially those who oppose the measures he imposed on the country in July 2021.